Alex Shelley
|height = |weight = |birth_date = |death_date = |birth_place = Detroit, Michigan |resides = Plymouth, Michigan |billed = Detroit, Michigan |trainer = Truth Martini Breyer Wellington Scott D'Amore Joe E. Legend |debut = March 2, 2002 |retired = |Birth name = Patrick Martin|Born = |Birth place = Detroit, Michigan|Resides = Plymouth, Michigan}} Patrick Martin (born May 23, 1983), is an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Alex Shelley. He is best known for working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as one half of The Motor City Machine Guns with Chris Sabin. He first gained fame on the independent circuit working for Ring of Honor (ROH), as well as in Japan, for Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max. He has also worked for New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he is a former three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion. Aside from wrestling, he is the lead singer of a rock band called The High Crusade, which includes his friends and fellow wrestlers Chris Sabin and Petey Williams. Professional wrestling career Training and early career (2002–2005) Martin initially started training in the fall of 2002 under Breyer Wellington and Truth Martini. He then joined the BCW Can-Am Wrestling School and began training under Scott D'Amore and Joe E. Legend. Martin debuted in 2002 as "Alex Shelley", a name he created by combining the forename of Alex, the protagonist of the 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange, with the surname of Pete Shelley, the lead singer of the 1970s punk rock band the Buzzcocks. Six months into his career, he was hospitalized with a shattered jaw when he slipped on a wet ring and hit the unpadded ring apron. Shelley had steel plates inserted into his jaw as a result. After eight months, Shelley joined Ian Rotten's IWA Mid-South promotion. He worked in the IWA for six months before joining the Philadelphia-based Combat Zone Wrestling. Not long after that, he joined Ring of Honor. On June 12, 2005, Shelley made an appearance on the international version of WWE Heat, losing to Simon Dean after being hit with the "Simonizer". His appearance was a tryout, but nothing came of it. Pro Wrestling Zero-1 Max (2005–2008) In March 2005 Shelley joined Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max. He won the vacant Zero1-Max United States Openweight Championship on September 19, 2005 in Tokyo, Japan, defeating Sonjay Dutt. His reign lasted until November 23 of that year, when he lost the title to Christopher Daniels. On August 25, 2006, at Korakuen Hall's Zero-1 Max show, Shelley and Chris Sabin became NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Champions, when they defeated champions, Ikuto Hidaka and Minoru Fujita. They lost the titles to the team of Minoru Fujita and Takuya Sugawara on April 6, 2008. New Japan Pro Wrestling The Motor City Machine Guns (2009–2010) On January 4, 2009, Shelley and Sabin defeated No Limit (Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro) at New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. They followed in the footsteps of American Dragon and Curry Man as the only other gaijin team to win those titles. After three successful title defenses, two of which took place in TNA, Shelley and Sabin lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title to Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) on July 5, 2009, at New Japan Pro Wrestling's Circuit 2009 New Japan Soul. On November 8, 2010, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced that the Motor City Machine Guns would be returning to the promotion the following month, competing at events on December 11 and 12. On December 11 the Motor City Machine Guns were defeated by No Limit in their New Japan return match. The following day they defeated Apollo 55 in the fourth ever match between the two teams. Time Splitters (2012–2015) Following his departure from TNA, New Japan announced on August 13, 2012, that Shelley would be returning to the promotion the following month. Before Shelley's return to Japan, he and A.J. Kirsch unsuccessfully challenged Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on August 26 at a Sacramento Wrestling Federation (SWF) event in Gridley, California. Following the match, Kushida saved Shelley from a beatdown at the hands of Koslov and Romero. Shelley wrestled his New Japan return match on September 7, when he, Bushi, Máscara Dorada and Ryusuke Taguchi were defeated in an eight-man tag team match by Alex Koslov, Averno, Low Ki and Rocky Romero. Afterwards, Shelley continued teaming with Kushida with the two forming the tag team "Time Splitters" and scoring several wins over Koslov and Romero in multiple man teamed matches, after debuting their new double-team finishing maneuver, the I-94. On October 8 at King of Pro-Wrestling, Time Splitters unsuccessfully challenged Forever Hooligans for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. On October 21, the Time Splitters entered the 2012 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, defeating The World Class Tag Team (Gedo and Jado) in their first round match. On November 2, Shelley and Kushida defeated Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Taka Michinoku) to advance to the finals, where, later that same day, they defeated Apollo 55 to win the tournament and become the number one contenders to the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. On November 11 at Power Struggle, the Time Splitters defeated Forever Hooligans in a rematch to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Time Splitters made their first successful title defense on February 10, 2013, at The New Beginning, defeating Forever Hooligans in the third title match between the two teams. Their second successful defense took place on March 3 at New Japan's 41st anniversary event, where they defeated Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask. On April 5, Shelley received his first shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, but was defeated by the defending champion, Prince Devitt. Two days later at Invasion Attack, Time Splitters defeated Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi for their third successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2013, Time Splitters lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship back to the Forever Hooligans in their fourth defense. From late May to early June, Shelley took part in the 2013 Best of the Super Juniors, where he managed to win five out of his eight matches with a win over Ricochet in the final round-robin match of the tournament on June 6, earning him a spot in the semifinals. On June 9, after defeating Taka Michinoku in his semifinal match, Shelley was defeated in the finals of the tournament by Prince Devitt. On June 22 at Dominion 6.22, Time Splitters failed in their attempt to regain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship from the Forever Hooligans. On September 29 at Destruction, Shelley and Kushida defeated Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Taka Michinoku) to earn another shot at the Forever Hooligans and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. However, on October 7, New Japan announced that Shelley had suffered a back injury, which would force Time Splitters to back out of the title match. Shelley later revealed that he had received a severe sciatica taking a sitout powerbomb from Taichi, which marked his fourth injury in the promotion since his September 2012 return. Shelley wrestled his return match on January 4, 2014, at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome, where he and Kushida unsuccessfully challenged The Young Bucks for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in a four-way match, which also included the Forever Hooligans and Suzuki-gun. Time Splitters were victorious in a non-title rematch the following day, after which they asserted themselves as The Young Bucks' next challengers. They received their title shot on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, but were again defeated by The Young Bucks. Time Splitters received another title shot on May 10 at Global Wars, a special event co-produced by NJPW and ROH in Toronto, but were defeated by The Young Bucks in a three-way match, also involving Forever Hooligans. On May 30, Shelley entered the 2014 Best of the Super Juniors tournament, where he won his block with a record of four wins and three losses, advancing to the semifinals. However, after injuring his left shoulder in his final round-robin match on June 6, Shelley was forced to pull out of the semifinals. Shelley returned to the ring on June 21 at Dominion 6.21, where he and Kushida defeated The Young Bucks to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the second time as a team. On August 10, Time Splitters made their first successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against the ROH tag team reDRagon. Time Splitters made their second successful title defense on September 23 against Suzuki-gun (El Desperado and Taichi). On October 13 at King of Pro-Wrestling, Time Splitters made their third successful title defense in a three-way match against Forever Hooligans and The Young Bucks. On November 8 at Power Struggle, Time Splitters lost the title to 2014 Super Jr. Tag Tournament winners reDRagon. Time Splitters received a rematch for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on January 4, 2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, in a four-way match also involving Forever Hooligans and The Young Bucks, but were again defeated by reDRagon. On February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, Time Splitters received another title shot in a three-way match, but were this time defeated by The Young Bucks, who became the new champions. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2015, Shelley unsuccessfully challenged Kenny Omega for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Later that month, Shelley suffered ligament damage and an avulsion fracture in his left foot, which forced him to pull out of the 2015 Best of the Super Juniors. Shelley returned to New Japan ring in September and on September 27 at Destruction in Kobe, he and Kushida unsuccessfully challenged reDRagon for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Following the 2015 Super Jr. Tag Tournament in November, Shelley left Japan. Motor City Machine Guns return (2016) On July 31, 2016, NJPW announced that Shelley would return to the promotion on August 21, now again as part of the Motor City Machine Guns tag team with Chris Sabin. In their return match, The Motor City Machine Guns unsuccessfully challenged The Young Bucks for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. In wrestling *'Finishing moves' **''Automatic Midnight'' / WA4 (Over the shoulder back-to-belly piledriver) **''Border City Stretch'' (Chickenwing over the shoulder crossface) **Frog splash – 2009 **''Shelley Clutch'' (Modified arm wrench inside cradle) **''Shellshock'' (Swinging reverse STO) – 2002–2006 **''Sliced Bread #2'' (Shiranui, sometimes from the second rope or while standing) – 2006–present; adopted from Spanky **STO – 2007 *'Signature moves' **Backpack stunner **Diving double foot stomp, sometimes to a tree of woe hung opponent **Diving kneeling jawbreaker **Double knee backbreaker **Enzuigiri **''Golden Gate Swing'' (Swinging fisherman suplex) **''It Came From Japan'' (Straight jacket scoop brainbuster) **''It Came From Japan II'' (Cross-legged fisherman buster) **Reverse STO into the turnbuckles **Running double knee strike to a cornered opponent **Single knee facebreaker **Single leg Boston crab **''Skull Fuck'' / Total Nonstop Alex (Push up facebuster) **Springboard moonsault **Springboard tornado DDT **Stretch plum **Superkick, sometimes from the top rope *'With Kushida' **'Double team finishing moves' ***''I-94'' (Sitout powerbomb (Kushida) / Sliced Bread #2 (Shelley) combination) ***''Outatime'' (Falling neckbreaker (Shelley) / Moonsault (Kushida) combination) *'With Chris Sabin' **'Double team finishing moves' ***''ASCS Rush'' (Spinning sole kick by Sabin followed by a superkick from Shelley and then finished with a simultaneous jumping enzuigiri by Sabin / superkick by Shelley combination) ***''Made in Detroit'' (Sitout powerbomb (Sabin) / Sliced Bread #2 (Shelley) combination) ***Powerbomb (Sabin) / Double knee backbreaker (Shelley) combination ***''Skull and Bones'' (Falling neckbreaker (Sabin) / Diving crossbody (Shelley) combination) **'Double team signature moves' ***Aided dropkick ***Aided snap swinging neckbreaker ***Aided standing Sliced Bread #2 ***''Air Raid'' (Sabin holds an opponent in a fireman's carry while Shelley hits a diving double foot stomp onto the prone opponent followed by Sabin hitting a fireman's carry takeover onto Shelley's knees or the Cradle Shock) ***Backbreaker hold (Sabin) / Diving knee drop (Shelley) combination ***''Bullet Point'' (Baseball slide (Shelley) followed by a Hesitation Dropkick (Sabin) to on an opponent held in the tree of woe position) ***Doomsday dropkick ***Double and stereo enzuigiris to one or two opponents respectively ***Double superkick to a seated or a kneeling opponent ***Inverted atomic drop by Shelley followed by a running dropkick to the knees by Sabin followed by an inverted STF by Shelley followed by a running dropkick to the face of the opponent by Sabin ***Irish whip by Sabin into a belly-to-belly suplex by Shelley, suplexing the opponent into his partner held in a tree of woe position ***Kneeling side slam by Sabin followed by a frog splash by Shelley ***''Motor City Machine Guns Sandwich'' (Running arched big boot (Sabin) / Enzuigiri (Shelley) combination to a cornered opponent) ***Reverse STO (Shelley) / Jumping enzuigiri (Sabin) combination ***Simultaneous diving leg drop (Sabin) / diving splash (Shelley) combination ***Spinning leg sweep (Sabin) / Spinning wheel kick (Shelley) combination ***Springboard dropkick by Sabin into a reverse STO by Shelley ***Standing inverted Indian deathlock surfboard by Shelley followed into a springboard diving leg drop to the back of an opponent's head by Sabin ***''Thunder Express'' (Inverted sitout side powerslam (Shelley) / Running cutter (Sabin) combination) *'Managers' **Chris Sabin **KUSHIDA **Captain New Japan **Hiroshi Tanahashi *'Entrance themes' **"Next Go Round" by Yonosuke Kitamura (NJPW) **'"Next Go Round (Omae wa Mo Shindeiru Version)"' by May's (NJPW) Championships and accomplishments *'New Japan Pro Wrestling' **IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Chris Sabin (1) and KUSHIDA (2) **Super Jr. Tag Tournament (2012) – with KUSHIDA *''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' **PWI Tag Team of the Year (2010) – with Chris Sabin **PWI ranked him #'32' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2009 *'Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max' **NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Chris Sabin **Zero1-Max United States Openweight Championship (1 time) References Category:American male professional wrestlers Category:Wrestlers Category:NJPW Roster Category:Gaijin